Tenet calls for Internet security

[R.A. Hettinga]

Now... Try not to laugh, here...

MMMGGGPPPFFFFFBWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Heh... Yes, well... Sorry about that.

Carry on.

Cheers,
RAH
-------

<http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20041201-114750-6381r>

The Washington Times
 www.washingtontimes.com

Tenet calls for Internet security
By Shaun Waterman
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published December 2, 2004
Former CIA Director George J. Tenet yesterday called for new security
measures to guard against attacks on the United States that use the
Internet, which he called "a potential Achilles' heel."
     "I know that these actions will be controversial in this age when we
still think the Internet is a free and open society with no control or
accountability," he told an information-technology security conference in
Washington, "but ultimately the Wild West must give way to governance and
control."
     The former CIA director said telecommunications -- and specifically
the Internet -- are a back door through which terrorists and other enemies
of the United States could attack the country, even though great strides
have been made in securing the physical infrastructure.
     The Internet "represents a potential Achilles' heel for our financial
stability and physical security if the networks we are creating are not
protected," Mr. Tenet said.
     He said known adversaries, including "intelligence services, military
organizations and non-state actors," are researching information attacks
against the United States.
     Within the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security has
the lead role in protecting the Internet from terrorism. But the
department's head of cyber-security recently quit amid reports that he had
clashed with his superiors.
     Mr. Tenet, who retired in July as director of the CIA after seven
years, warned that al Qaeda remains a sophisticated group, even though its
first-tier leadership largely has been destroyed.
     It is "undoubtedly mapping vulnerabilities and weaknesses in our
telecommunications networks," he said.
     Mr. Tenet pointed out that the modernization of key industries in the
United States is making them more vulnerable by connecting them with an
Internet that is open to attack.
     The way the Internet was built might be part of the problem, he said.
Its open architecture allows Web surfing, but that openness makes the
system vulnerable, Mr. Tenet said.
     Access to networks like the World Wide Web might need to be limited to
those who can show they take security seriously, he said.
     Mr. Tenet called for industry to lead the way by "establishing and
enforcing" security standards. Products need to be delivered to government
and private-sector customers "with a new level of security and risk
management already built in."
     The national press, including United Press International (UPI), were
excluded from yesterday's event, at Mr. Tenet's request, organizers said.

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'